A Special Holiday Season In Chincha, Peru

Chincha, Peru — Led by Dr. Carlos Navarro, CIRPLAST, is one our best and most unique partners in providing free cleft surgery and care. While they are based in Lima, due to the lack of medical infrastructure in poorer communities in Peru, this incredible team hosts multiple cleft camps throughout Peru. These cleft camps focus on providing primary cleft care as well as follow up. The team recently returned from Chincha after giving lots of children and their families a very gift for the Holidays.

There are a total of 177,000 people living in Chincha, many living in abject poverty. In 2007, a major earthquake hit the region and 94% of all homes were destroyed or damaged as well as schools, hospitals, community centers and government buildings. Poverty conditions in Chincha worsened drastically, as the already-limited basic infrastructure and services could not meet the needs of residents. The city is still slowly recovering and children born with clefts have little hope that their families would be able to pay for cleft surgery.

But there is hope.

Through partnership with Smile Train, Dr. Navarro and his team have regular cleft camps to provide free surgery and follow up care to these children. These patients and their families will have an extra special Holiday Season filled with new smiles!